


Oopsies Are Cute

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, F/M, Older Characters, bc Remus is alive, cameo from Charlie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 02:13:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14864699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: One take on how Lily Luna managed to tell the man of her heart what she feels. *light T for language*





	Oopsies Are Cute

**Author's Note:**

> The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. Read, review, and enjoy!

Lily Luna glanced at her watch, and her face reddened, butterflies emerging in her stomach. _Crap, it's now or never,_ she told herself. She breathed in and out deeply and smoothed her long, mahogany hair. Not only did she have to rush this—not her first choice—but she knew she needed to look _somewhat_ presentable for the occasion, as well.

"Lily, are you going to join us for supper?" Ginny called from inside the Potter house. She stuck her head outside and waited for a response.

"Um, I don't think I'll have time, Mum," the witch called back. She looked at the waning moon starting to rise and walked back to the house. "I've got a stop before heading back to Romania." She marched past her mother and grabbed her purse from the couch in the living room.

"You're leaving _now_?" Al asked in disbelief. "Lils, it's getting pretty late."

"And it's already pretty late in Romania," James chimed in. "You're better off staying here."

"Oh, hush up," she told her older brothers. "If I get stuck anywhere, I'll go to a friend's house."

Her father raised an eyebrow. "Lily, a friend taking you in at this age?"

"I'm twenty-three, not forty," she grumbled, her cheeks red. "And I will now bid you all a good night. So… _goodnight_." She gave Al and her parents hugs and kisses and narrowly avoided James' noogie before finally leaving the house at Godric's Hollow. At the end of the neighborhood, Lily Luna double-checked to see none of them had followed her and then Disapparated on the spot. When a familiar Muggle village appeared before her eyes, she smiled. Yes, this was so it.

She hurried down the lane, careful about the snow and ice. _The last thing I need is for this nice pair of denims to be ruined_ , she noted as her boot heels crunched on the ground. _But, hey, if I can just get this over with while I have the guts to do it… Bollocks. I can't do this now! … No, no, I made up my mind. …what if he rejects me? No! He'll at least hear me out! Well, he's got a lot of wisdom on you, Lil… But I love him!_

"Lily?" a surprised Remus asked, unlocking the front door to his house.

"Remmy!" Her heart leaped, seeing that he was home. "Fantastic timing! I—"

" _LILY_!"

_**Clonk.** _

* * *

"Oww…" Lily winced as she opened her eyes. Sitting up hurt like a _bitch_ … Then she blushed, feeling her bum was wet. Crap. She was still outside, sitting on the wet ice on which she had slipped.

"Are you all right?" Remus asked. He was crouching beside her, his hands frozen in mid-action, unsure of what he ought to do. He bit his lip, which made Lily smile; for all his years, Remus didn't look his age. He looked only a little older than Harry himself, a funny thought considering the lycanthropy had taken a toll on Remus' youth. Nowadays he seemed to feed on the wolf's strength.

"Fine, fine," she assured him with an awkward laugh. "No, really, I'm fine, Remus," she added in a calmer voice when he gave her a look.

"Good Merlin, what were you thinking, running on ice?" he chided her.

"I wasn't _running_ on ice, just…speed-walking."

"You hit your head, Lily. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Oh, my head's fine!" She waved him off after he helped her up. "No need to worry—I've got that hard Potter head."

"More like the stubborn, thick Weasley one," he mumbled loud enough so she'd hear.

" _Hey_!"

Remus smiled briefly before the concern returned to his features. "But are you really sure?" He unfolded her scarf and placed his hands around her neck, checking to make sure everything was in its correct place. He cupped her head. "You might not feel it now, but you will later…"

Lily bit the inside of her cheek to keep from doing or saying anything embarrassing. The warmth of his hands was _heavenly_ , and she wished she could tell him that. But, in order for that to happen, something else had to be moved out of the way first. "Hey, Remus…"

"Hmm?"

Her words caught in her throat as her doubt swallowed her up again. Could she really say this? Could she finally be the Gryffindor she'd been Sorted as? _Could she be Weasley or Potter enough to risk everything?_ _Hell, yeah_ , she told herself. Her grin returned to her face, lovely and broad. "I'm in love with you, Remmy."

He didn't miss a beat, his face unchanged. "Oh, hell… I love you, too, Lily, but you've hit your head harder than I thought. Come on," he said, taking her hand and tugging her inside. "Let's have a rest, shall we?"

Lily had never wanted to hex a person so much in her life before.

* * *

Inside, the house was as Lily remembered it—well, from her few memories. She had not been over to the Lupin residence much in her life so far; most of the times had been from visiting Teddy, whom Lily was loath to admit she'd ever liked. Teddy's arrogance was better off coupled with her cousin, Roxanne's, need for order from chaos. Lily couldn't sit around fixing things…

It was one of the reasons she loved Remus. He needn't much care and neither did she, but, when she was near him, she felt as though she would do anything for him—even if it was just smile—and she would want nothing in return.

She couldn't believe she could be so sappy. But she chocked it up to her love having grown over the past five years. After all, it wasn't every day a girl at nineteen suddenly realized her affection for a much older man—a _werewolf_ , at that—went beyond the normal platonic standards.

"Sip," Remus ordered, handing her a cup of tea. He sat down on the couch and pulled her legs onto his lap to warm them. "You probably shouldn't be going anywhere too soon… Where were you heading, anyway? This is a bit far from Godric's Hollow, Lilu…"

She smiled behind her mug. She loved hearing that nickname of his for her. Once, her father and brothers had called her that, and she'd snapped at them for using it. Only Remus was allowed that moniker. Her heartbeat sped up, knowing she _would_ tell him tonight.

"…think I'll Floo Harry and have him come get you—"

" _NO_!" Lily yelped, her tea sloshing in its mug. Her eyes went big, and Remus stared at her, a little shocked by her sudden outburst. "Uh, I mean… I'm a big girl. I can handle myself."

To her relief, Remus laughed. "Oh, Lilu… You do know how to keep me on my toes." He winked at her. "You can take the guest bedroom if need be. Did you eat?"

"I—" Her grumbling stomach cut her off. She glowered at her midsection. _SHUT UP, DAMN YOU!_ She raised her head to find Remus watching her with a peculiar look on his face. "I, er…"

"Maybe some food will help." He stood, despite her whimpers that she wanted her legs to stay where they were. "Lily, some food and rest is what you need. You were returning to Romania tonight, correct?"

She blinked in surprise. "Well, yes, I was planning on it. But how did you—"

"You'll just go back tomorrow," he told her as he disappeared into the kitchen.

Lily Luna glared at his back. He was making things so bloody hard for her. _Merlin forbid I fall in love with a_ simple _man_ , she internally groaned.

* * *

"Just some beef stew in bread bowls," Remus said when he returned thirty minutes later.

Lily looked at the meal he placed on her lap. "Beef stew? Either it's not what one usually considers beef stew—a Remus creation—"

"Hey!"

"—or you had this cooking from earlier." She smiled impishly. "Expecting company, Remmy?"

Remus gave her a look and dug into his own portion. "I don't recall Lilu being so mischievous," he stated.

"I _do_ recall Remmy being such a worrywart," she said with a smile. "But, hey, thank you… I…didn't mean to run earlier."

"Ha! So you admit you were running!"

"Yes, yes, shut it, git. I was hasty because I finally had the courage to do something." When he gave her a quizzical look, she repeated, "I'm in love with you, Remmy."

Remus frowned. "Lilu… You don't know what you're talking about."

She scoffed. " _Excuse_ me? Is this your heart or my heart you're talking about, because you don't know my heart. …well, you do, but… Agh, stop it, this isn't coming out as I'd planned at all!" She grabbed a handful of her hair in her fist and heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Lily, I…"

"I'm not forcing my feelings on you, Remus." She locked eyes with him, teal on tawny brown. "I just want mine out there…for consideration." When they continued to stare at each other without another word, Lily finally sighed and dropped her spoon back into the bread bowl. "Sorry, all right? Sorry to burden you with that."

Remus stared down at his food. "Since when?"

"Hmm… Probably that time everyone was together at the war memorial years ago, when I was nineteen—"

" _Nineteen_? _That_ long?" Color dusted the apples of his cheeks.

She nodded and continued as though he hadn't interrupted. "—and Lucy and I got into a fight over fallen loved ones. You'll remember, how Lucy said I was nothing but a carbon-copy of Grandmum Lily, and I tried saying something just as nasty but couldn't since Aunt Audrey's Muggle family had been in the count of innocents murdered during the war." Lily pursed her lips. "Uncle George had to hold her back, but it took both you and Uncle Ron to keep me from going at her." The witch frowned.

"…well, it takes a lot of strength to hold back a nineteen-year-old woman. … And it _is_ you, Lilu," he said with a tiny grin.

She smiled back. "Yeah. But…I remember you taking me aside to cool off and—and the bloody dam broke, and I cried and…" Lily sighed. "Godric, this sounds like bloody rubbish, but I'd never been held tighter in my life." Her smile softened, but it was sincere. "The moments I've spent with you—Mum and Dad needing someone to 'look' after me, me needing homework help, me just wanting to borrow a book and the two of us reading quietly together while the family ran around like hippogriffs with their heads cut off—I cherish it all." She closed her eyes a moment, enjoying the warmth spreading in her chest. "So, yes, I _do_ know what I'm talking about."

Again, Remus was quiet. He resumed staring at his food, but he had his lower lip between his teeth, a habit Lily was sure he'd passed on to Sirius, judging by the pictures she'd seen of the friends from their school days. Lily watched him and waited; she ate her food and felt better with a meal in her stomach, but she never took her eyes off him.

It hit her when she folded her hands in the cloth of the Sherpa blanket he'd brought her. "Oh…my…"

Remus glanced at her before resuming eating.

"Since when?"

He said nothing, merely stuffed a chunk of the bread bowl into his mouth.

Lily threw the blanket off her and onto the couch's back. She knelt on the cushion right next to him and repeated, nearly breathlessly, " _Since when_?"

"The year after!" he blurted with a glare. His blush made him… _look younger than me_ , she thought, stifling her laughter.

"And?" she prompted.

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It was after that incident with you and Lucy. I'd seen you after you had decided to work on the Dragon Plains with Charlie, and…"

Lily smiled and timidly touched his arm. When he didn't jerk away from her, she latched on and hugged his arm tightly to her chest. "'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'?" she quipped.

"Something like that," he answered. Finally, he faced her. "But don't think this—"

"Changes anything?"

"Exactly. This is too—"

"Brand-new?"

"Stop that. We're still—"

"Accepting our feelings? Maybe _you_ are."

"I said, 'Stop that!'" He frowned, but it was a bashful frown. "Merlin, it's as though you're—"

"Reading your mind?"

Remus sighed, giving up. "Yeah."

Lily beamed at him. "Further sign we're meant to be."

"Oh, _please_ don't start up with something like that…" He looked at her. "Lilu, I was _married_. I have a _son older than you_. I—"

"Remmy, please do shut up." She rested her cheek on his shoulder. "…this was worth a little slip."

She felt him sigh again, and he picked her head up by her chin. "Lilu…have you even _had_ a serious relationship?"

"Well, if Scorpius Malfoy counts as serious and forbidden, then I'd say I'm all prepared for you."

He snorted, a smirk on his lips. "Perhaps."

Lily smiled and leaned in, hoping to ki—"UMF!"

Remus wrapped her scarf around her mouth. "Not so quick, luv. You've got to give me time to prepare for _you_." She glared at him, and he laughed. "Oh, Lilu… What Lucy said back then couldn't be more false. I have certainly _not_ met a witch like you before… You're just Lily Luna."

She grinned from ear to ear as he kissed the top of her head. The risk of his rejection, the risk of their companionship, the risk of her skull… It had been worth it all.

But she had one last thing on her mind.

Removing the scarf, she asked with a cheeky grin, "About you knowing I was going back to Romania tonight… You've been keeping tabs on me, haven't you, Remmy?"

His face was priceless.

* * *

Later that night, Lily arrived in Romania, her mad, Cheshire cat grin still plastered on her face.

Her uncle, Charlie, came out of their tent, groggy. "Lily Lu…? What the…? It's after suppertime! You were supposed to arrive an hour ago!" he growled

"I know, I know…," she said. She hung her cloak up and removed her boots. "I fell." _On ice and in love,_ she thought with a private smirk.

Charlie fretted just as Remus had earlier. "Are you all right? It was the England ice, wasn't it? How are you feeling?"

She grinned and answered completely truthfully, "Never better."

**Author's Note:**

> XD My favorite Remlilu so far! I was dying to write this not so soon after I fell on ice… B/ *long live the horrible winter of 2010-2011* Anywho, I thought it was a sweet idea, and it worked perfectly for them! So sweet! X333 Btw, in case you're wondering (and wanting more), this has a follow-up, "Telling Lies & Half-Truths," set some time after this. I've written other Remlilus, too: "Heart of the Wolf" (the first Remlilu!), "we dance without a care in the world," and "Angels for Now." None of those are technically in the same universe as this one, but "Telling" is. I have one planned to go with "Angels for Now," as well, so I hope you enjoy them! And who doesn't enjoy a Charlie cameo? XD
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew-tsubaki :3
> 
> 2017 note: XD This is just the right amount of sweetness. Age gaps don't matter much in the HariPo universe when you consider how long witches and wizards can live, and so I love Remlilu so much, esp with an adult Lilu who still acts childish. XD Remus flustered in this scenario is too cute. :3c


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